Make sure you get your evening invitation wording right with our help to avoid any confusion on the big day, it’s the last thing you’ll need!
Traditionally, evening receptions are held to enable more guests to enjoy your day while keeping your wedding costs down. They also bring fresh impetus to the day’s celebrations at a crucial time when most daytime revellers are starting to get a little worse for wear (hic).
It’s an old adage that you can’t please everyone all the time and it never rings truer than when you’re sat down trying to decide who to invite to your big day/evening – “We can’t leave them out because we were invited to their wedding”, or “she’ll never speak to me again if we don’t invite her and her boyfriend.”
Sound familiar? Then let’s look at the best way to get your evening invitation wording sorted.
Listen to your heart
It’s always a difficult decision knowing who to invite and who to leave off the list, but you must do what feels right in your heart. If you only want (or have the budget) to include your closest friends and family at your ceremony then that’s reason enough = It’s your day not theirs!
Avoid embarrassment
Make sure your evening invitation wording states VERY CLEARLY in large lettering that is is an evening invite only – there’s nothing more embarrassing for you, or your guests if you get people turning up to the wrong part of the day.
Grub’s up. I hope.
Let people know if food is going to be available in the evening and roughly what time it will be served. That way guests will know to leave enough room to eat later on. You don’t want tables of food going to waste if they’ve already eaten at home ‘just in case’, because it’ll cost you a lot of money.
Likewise, if you’re planning to have no, or very little food (i.e. just canapés) for your later guests, make sure it’s obvious in your evening invitation wording – It’s a cardinal sin to have guests complaining to each other that they’re hungrier than a horse. Take it from us, they’ll be heading home early to tuck into a juicy kebab before you know it!
See this Doris, the cheek of it!
Unless you want to be more unpopular than Nasty Nick, DON’T include a gift list on your invites – people will probably feel offended that they have to contribute even though you don’t value them highly enough to be at your ceremony.
Be prepared
Inevitably, some guests won’t be able to make it to your ceremony due to holidays, work or other commitments. Why not keep an upgrade list of people who you would like to attend the wedding ceremony if others have to drop out, that way you’ll have a clear idea of numbers for each?
And finally, don’t delay!
Send your evening invitations at the same time as your daytime invites – that way people won’t be left wondering if they’ve been sent an invite at all.
